Approach investing like buying durians

Singapore

MY newsroom colleague Anita recently wrote "An IPO elsewhere is not always a big loss for SGX".

A successful SME owner gave me sound advice on this subject some years ago. It was during a period when IPOs were hitting the market every few weeks. I asked if he would consider an IPO.

He said: "There are three reasons why a company decides to do an initial public offering: one, the owner needs funds to grow his business; two, he wants to cash out; three, he wants to enhance his company's market visibility."

Since he was doing well and didn't need funding, he said that he had no plans for an IPO.

An IPO is an opportunity for the public to participate in a company's …